NRI: Liquid-Solid Metal for Embodied Intelligence in Semi-Soft, Human-Collaborative Robots

NRI：用于半软人类协作机器人中体现智能的液固金属

• 批准号: 2133027
• 负责人: Alan Kuntz
• 金额: $ 148.91万
• 依托单位: University of Utah
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-09-01 至 2025-08-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2133027&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: NRI; Liquid; Solid; Metal; Embodied

This National Robotics Initiative (NRI) grant supports research that will contribute new knowledge to the design and control of a novel semi-soft robot, promoting both the progress of science and enhancing national industrial and healthcare objectives. Flexible robots are able to navigate through restrictive environments. As such, they have the potential to revolutionize a variety of robotic tasks including industrial inspections, search-and-rescue operations, and minimally invasive surgery. Existing flexible robots are either soft (made of rubbery elastic elements), which makes them safe, or hard (made of rigid support structures), which makes them able to lift heavy loads. The team supported by this award seeks to create a new kind of semi-soft robot that leverage the benefits of both paradigms. The researchers will pursue fundamental research to provide needed knowledge in the design and control of robots with internal skeletons that can transition from liquid to solid metal. A semi-soft robot will be able to compress itself to pass through small openings, and then stiffen beyond, to manipulate its environment. Such a robot has the potential to benefit the U.S. economy and society with broad applications in infrastructure, manufacturing, disaster response, and medicine. This research involves several disciplines including mechanical engineering, mathematical modeling, control theory, computer science, and robot motion planning. The research approach and associated outreach activities will help to broaden participation of underrepresented groups in robotics and positively impact engineering and computer science education.Semi-soft robots will possess capabilities beyond existing robot designs via the phase transition of low melting point metal alloys, enabling the robot to control its stiffness from very soft (to deform through narrow openings), to very stiff (so that the robot can lift heavy loads and interact forcefully with its environment). These semi-soft robots will also have curved control tendons, endowing them with the potential to take on more complex shapes than current robots, which use straight control tendons. However, scientific barriers remain before the potential of effective, controllable semi-soft robots is realized. This research will investigate the integration of the design, modeling, control, and motion planning of semi-soft robots. More specifically, the research team will (1) perform finite element modeling to understand the mechanical properties of a variety of low melting point alloy structure designs and their interaction with curved tendon actuation; (2) develop Cosserat Rod- and machine learning-based mechanical models of the robot; (3) investigate the use of resolved rates and model predictive control; (4) develop fast motion planning algorithms and a user interface that enables safe and accurate supervisory human control of the robot; and (5) validate these systems and concepts in simulated lung surgery.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

这项国家机器人倡议（NRI）赠款支持将为新颖的半柔软机器人设计和控制提供新知识的研究，从而促进了科学的进步并增强了国家工业和医疗保健目标。灵活的机器人能够在限制性环境中导航。因此，他们有可能彻底改变各种机器人任务，包括工业检查，搜索手术和微创手术。现有的柔性机器人要么是柔软的（由橡胶弹性元素制成），这使其安全或坚硬（由刚性支撑结构制成），这使它们能够增加重载。该奖项支持的团队旨在创建一种新型的半柔软机器人，以利用这两个范式的好处。研究人员将进行基础研究，以在机器人的设计和控制机器人中提供内部骨骼的设计和控制，这些知识可以从液体过渡到固体金属。半柔软的机器人将能够压缩自身以通过小开口，然后再僵硬，以操纵其环境。这样的机器人有可能通过在基础设施，制造业，灾难响应和医学中应用广泛的应用来使美国经济和社会受益。这项研究涉及多个学科，包括机械工程，数学建模，控制理论，计算机科学和机器人运动计划。研究方法和相关的宣传活动将有助于扩大代表性不足的团体在机器人技术中的参与，并积极影响工程和计算机科学教育。Semi-Soft-Soft机器人通过低熔点金属合金的相位过渡到现有机器人设计以外的能力，从而使机器人从非常软（狭窄的装置）稳固（同样），从而使其刚性（同时又有狭窄），从而使其相互作用（因此），从而使其相互作用（因此），从而使机器人相互作用，从而使机器人相互作用，从而使机器人的僵硬（So）相互作用，从而使机器人的刚性相互作用，从而使机器人的刚性相互作用，从而使其刚性稳定。 环境）。 这些半柔软的机器人还将具有弯曲的控制肌腱，与使用直肌腱的当前机器人相比，它们具有更复杂的形状的潜力。 但是，在实现有效，可控制的半柔软机器人的潜力之前，科学障碍仍然存在。这项研究将研究半柔软机器人的设计，建模，控制和运动计划的整合。更具体地说，研究团队将（1）执行有限元建模，以了解各种低熔点合金结构设计的机械性能及其与弯曲肌腱致动的相互作用； （2）开发机器人的基于Cosserat杆和机器学习的机械模型； （3）研究解决速率和模型预测控制的使用； （4）开发快速运动计划算法和用户界面，该算法可以安全，准确地监督机器人控制； （5）在模拟肺部手术中验证这些系统和概念。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并使用基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛的影响审查标准，被认为值得通过评估。

项目成果

Optimizing Continuum Robot Tendon Routing for Minimally Invasive Brain Surgery

• 发表时间: 2022
• 作者: Margaret Rox;Aidan Copinga;R. Naftel;R. Webster;A. Kuntz

Toward Continuum Robot Tentacles for Lung Interventions: Exploring Folding Support Disks

• DOI: 10.1109/lra.2023.3267006
• 发表时间: 2023-06
• 期刊: IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters
• 影响因子: 5.2
• 作者: Margaret Rox;Daniel E. Esser;Mariana E. Smith;T. Ertop;Maxwell Emerson;Fabien Maldonado;E. Gillaspie;A. Kuntz;R. Webster

Toward a Millimeter-Scale Tendon-Driven Continuum Wrist with Integrated Gripper for Microsurgical Applications

面向显微外科应用的带有集成夹具的毫米级肌腱驱动连续手腕

• 发表时间: 2023
• 期刊: Hamlyn Symposium on Medical Robotics
• 作者: Leavitt, Alexandra;Lam, Ryan;Taylor, Nichols C.;Drew, Daniel S.;Kuntz, Alan
• 通讯作者: Kuntz, Alan

A Radial Folding Mechanism to Enable Surgical Continuum Manipulators to Fit Through Smaller Ports

• DOI: 10.1109/ismr57123.2023.10130276
• 发表时间: 2023-04
• 期刊: 2023 International Symposium on Medical Robotics (ISMR)
• 作者: Mariana E. Smith;Daniel E. Esser;Margaret Rox;A. Kuntz;R. Webster

Interactive-Rate Supervisory Control for Arbitrarily-Routed Multitendon Robots via Motion Planning

• DOI: 10.1109/access.2022.3194515
• 发表时间: 2022-01-01
• 期刊: IEEE ACCESS
• 影响因子: 3.9
• 作者: Bentley, Michael;Rucker, Caleb;Kuntz, Alan
• 通讯作者: Kuntz, Alan